6 shocks from the Mamma Mia 2 trailer

Here We Go Again.

The first trailer for the highly-anticipated sequel to 2008's Mamma Mia dropped on Thursday.

Earlier versions of it may have leaked online in the last few days but we don't talk about those so hush now.

When it was released, the first Mamma Mia movie briefly held the title as the highest-grossing film release in UK film history.

(Of course, that was before the release of Skyfall, Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Basically, Mamma Mia is now in ninth place.)

We've been through all two minutes and 24 seconds of the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again trailer - several times, to be honest - and would like to raise the following issues.

1. Where in the name of Chiquitita is Meryl Streep

So there we were, clicking on the trailer on a perfectly pleasant Thursday morning, expecting unfiltered, light, fluffy, Abba-drenched escapism.

But no: the Mamma Mia 2 producers have decided to obliterate any false sense of security we'd all been foolishly lulled into in the promo's opening seconds.

As flashback images of Meryl Streep run across the screen, Julie Walters tells Amanda Seyfried: "Your mother was the bravest person we ever met."

Hold the phone. Did Mamma Mia just kill off Meryl Streep? SHE WASN'T EVEN THAT OLD.

Perhaps the actress has been too busy over the last couple of years winning awards to make room in her schedule for a mimed rendition of Voulez-Vous.

But still, if Donna Sheridan is dead in Mamma Mia 2, we are already done with 2018.

2. Haven't we seen Jeremy Irvine do something like this before?

Lily James plays a young Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irvine a young Pierce Brosnan

In 2013's The Railway Man, Jeremy Irvine played a young Colin Firth.

He looked like a young Colin Firth, he sounded like a young Colin Firth, he WAS a young Colin Firth - as Louis Walsh might have said.

So now that he's climbed aboard Mamma Mia 2, and Colin Firth is also in Mamma Mia 2, surely he'll be reprising his role as a younger version of the Oscar-winning actor?

Not quite. He's playing a young Pierce Brosnan instead, which - if we didn't already know from having just looked it up on IMDB - we certainly know now from his hairstyle in the trailer.

3. Oh my god. It's Cher.

With blonde hair and sunglasses.

And apparently she's playing Meryl Streep's mum, as Amanda refers to her as "Grandma".

In real life Cher is only three years older than Meryl Streep so that pregnancy must have been quite the medical breakthrough.

"Grandma, you weren't invited," smiles Amanda in the trailer - the kind of smile that also says "oh my god look it's Cher I can't belieeeeeve it."

"That's the best kind of party little girl," Cher replies. Well put.

4. And look there's Will from W1A

He's back in all his swooshy-haired glory, and this time he isn't just carrying Hugh Bonneville's fold-up bicycle.

Yeah, no yeah, no cool, yeah no worries.

5. The songs. THE SONGS.

For so long, we've all been kept awake, night after night, wondering which Abba classics will make it into the movie sequel.

We are now three songs closer to having the answer - as the trailer features I Have A Dream, Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia.

Earlier this year, Benny Andersson from Actual Abba told BBC Radio 2 that the film would also feature Angel Eyes, I Wonder and When I Kissed The Teacher.

But given how many of the big songs were mopped up by the first film, they don't have many other tunes left to play with.

The major omissions from the first included Fernando and Knowing Me, Knowing You. Beyond that, there may have to be some more repeats.

Which is fine by us, as long as one of them is Waterloo - because that one was cruelly relegated to the credits in the first film.

6. There's a new girlband in town.

Amanda Seyfried now appears to be performing with her mum's pals, played by Christine Baranski and Julie Walters, in the new film.

It works both as a touching tribute to Streep, and also as a vision of what the Sugababes might have looked like after another few decades of line-up changes.

Anyway, whatever other surprises are in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, we are so ready for this film.

For now, we say Thank You For The Trailer, which you can watch below.

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